Duality wrote:Thanks again everybody for answering, it's helping me a lot.
Are there any places in Helsinki which you can absolutely not recommend to live in because of poor public transportation or other circumtances?
Do the district in the north/northwest like Kaarela etc. have decent connections to the other parts of the city?

You can check the travel connections easily yourself: http://www.reittiopas.fi/en/ Then you can decide if it's too far from your work place and the city.

Re: Cost of living in Helsinki as PhD student

leisl wrote:Yes yes, anyone can cherry pick and select the most expensive ones so that it suits their wrong argument. How about a result that doesn't just pluck a couple of dumb and expensive ones out, a result that has ALL rentals? OH LOOK, THE PLACES ARE FOR THE PRICE I SAID. FUNNY THAT.http://bit.ly/2jwQBOB

Every time the topic is brought up, there are always two camps:
1. Who believe it's totally doable with 50 euros a week and anybody spends more is an idiot.
2. Who believe it's totally impossible with less than 150 a week and anybody who spends less is an idiot.

Both of these camps should accept that other people have different lifestyles. It's really pointless to compare what your monthly spending to others.

Here's one from me: I live alone, and I spend 250 on groceries (alcohol excluded) each week just for myself, and it's almost impossible for me to survive with anything less.

Every case is unique. You can't measure the result of your application based on arbitrary anecdotes online.

Beep_Boop wrote:Every time the topic is brought up, there are always two camps:
1. Who believe it's totally doable with 50 euros a week and anybody spends more is an idiot.
2. Who believe it's totally impossible with less than 150 a week and anybody who spends less is an idiot.

Both of these camps should accept that other people have different lifestyles. It's really pointless to compare what your monthly spending to others.

Here's one from me: I live alone, and I spend 250 on groceries (alcohol excluded) each week just for myself, and it's almost impossible for me to survive with anything less.

There is simply a difference between:
- how much money you need to just survive
and
- how much money an average person/couple/family spends
and
- how much the person talking about it spends itself.

The weird calculation roger_roger made seems to be his idea of how much a family of four would spend, but I disagree. For pure survival I can easily draft a much healthier meal plan that's also cheaper. But an average family would spend so much more simply because you also want nicer things, from good fruit and vegetables to sweets and other treats kids and adults want on weekends. Again, an average family.

For OP, as a fellow Austrian working for Uni in Helsinki, I think 80-100 Euro a week is a realistic approach, and also easily affordable by university salaries.

Beep_Boop wrote:Here's one from me: I live alone, and I spend 250 on groceries (alcohol excluded) each week just for myself, and it's almost impossible for me to survive with anything less.

Indeed. When I am writing I live alone in Helsinki and I eat VERY simply, and the reality is that my daily nip into the supermarket is in the region of 15 euro, which is 105e per week. That's breakfast cereal, milk & coffee, fruit, yoghurt, a bread roll for lunch, and salads & pasta for dinner. I make everything myself and might have a whole one day a week where I'll eat out and spend a tenner. If you looked more closely at my basket you'd notice that I can't buy a whole bag of so many things as I've not got a freezer or a huge fridge, and things like a whole loaf of bread would just go off. End result is that you pay more for "single sized" items or a small amount of mince from a deli counter instead of the bulk packet which serves five.

No, that total doesn't include alcohol, about half of my purchases are unbranded, and yes, that covers household and personal goods as well (I don't know if maybe roger_roger never washes his hair or brushes his teeth etc). If I were working fulltime and didn't have the time/energy to prep all my meals myself I am quite sure that the "convenient" versions of what I eat would double my budget. If I had the space and creativity, I could probably get the cost down to 10 per day.

Duality wrote:Hello all,
I'm from Austria and would like to move to Helsinki to do a PhD here. I am currently trying to figure out how the standard of living in Helsinki would be for me and was hoping you could give me some advice.
I have learned that the average starting salary is roughly 2200 euros/m gross, but I couldn't figure out how much net salary that would be (my guess is something around 1700/m?) Is it possible with this salary to live a "decent" life in Helsinki? I'd like to live in a flat that's at least 35-40m2 big (no shared flats), preferrably somewhere in or near the center or with good public transportation; I guess that would be around at least 800-900 euros/month? I don't have any expensive hobbies and am not a person who goes out that often, but I'd like to afford going to cafes or having lunch somewhere every now and then without having to worry about my bank account. In my memory the prices for groceries in the supermarkets are rather expensive, I read that it's about 100 euros/week, is that realistic for a single person? Also, I don't really know about the finnish insurance system. Do I have to pay extra for that or is that usually covered by the employer?
As for living, Töölö area would be my dream (yes I know it's very expensive and unrealistic) but I'd also be interested in experiences from any other parts of Helsinki, especially Kallio, Vuosaari or the area around Itäkeskus.
I'd be very grateful if you could give me some advice. Thanks in advance

Hello and welcome!

Personal experience:

I am a PhD student.

- At first I was getting something like 2200e/month gross. I'd get around 1800e net, the taxation is not very high yet in these stages.
- At first I was living with 2 flatmates in a 84 square meter flat in Pikku Huopalahti. Rent was 1450, a bit under 500e/ per person.
- Now I live in a 46 square meter paying 900e in the north border of Töölö. I consider myself lucky but I think you can find good offers every now and then.
- Spending 100 per week is possible but needs good programming (i.e. not getting in the first supermarket you find and buy whatever you might need some day). You need to know what to buy from where etc.
- I don't live a big life but I don't miss anything and I even put some money aside even though I drink quite much. Alcohol is expensive!

For flat-seeking I always like Oikotie since you can search on the map. I did a search for you:
The map is centered around Töölö with min-max rent 600-900 and min-max square meters 30-50. This will filter some random ads (communes and such garbage). You can use the link.

wolf80 wrote:He wants to feed a whole family of four with only vegetable soup the whole Saturday, that should answer our question.

As expected your intelligence level didn't let you think more of a decent thought. Before guessing you have minimal reading comprehension I'd suggest to read again and tell me when did I mention its about my lifestyle? I gave a sample menu for a week for 4 persons as someone questioned, and I even asked if that's the healthy menu . Regarding the vegetables soup on Saturday, its general conception from the list itself, that's the menu list is for dinner unless written explicitly like for Sunday, but well it takes a decent brain to analyse and understand. Family may want to have nice lunch outside together on Saturday while taking their children to play out, have you ever thought that? Of course not

Yeah, always start with an insult, that's intelligent! Speaks really much more of you than of me.

And the reading problem seems to apply to you, because I said exactly that: "seems to be his idea of how much a family of four would spend". So yes, I got what you said, but it does not seem to be the other way round.

Your menu is neither very cheap nor does it apply to an average family, so it's useless because it doesn't prove any point. I don't believe any average family would spend over 30 Euro on fish soup one day, then hunger with only vegetable soup on a Saturday just to go out and spend lots of money on a Sunday.

You have been long enough in this forum, learn to behave yourself and don't insult other people! Really only tells something about yourself if you can't express yourself in a civilized way!

inkku wrote:As a student you can get quite many benefits.
Student lunches are subsidied by e2/lunch, thus lunch will cost you for e5-6 in the Uni cafe.

As a Phd student you have to pay normal prices for the lunch as you are considered an employee and not a student.

Fortunately, that's not true. As a PhD student (jatko-opiskelija), even if you receive a salary, you get a discounted rate at Unicafe. The current price is €4,70 per meal. It is not quite as cheap as for undergrads, but it is less than the staff rate.

You won't find many PhD students living in 40 m2 flats in Toolo, or in single flats of any size in Toolo, for that matter. For what you propose, I think 1000-1100 €/month would be a realistic rent, but most students will pay substantially less, either by sharing or living elsewhere.

Querfeldein wrote:Fortunately, that's not true. As a PhD student (jatko-opiskelija), even if you receive a salary, you get a discounted rate at Unicafe. The current price is €4,70 per meal. It is not quite as cheap as for undergrads, but it is less than the staff rate.

You won't find many PhD students living in 40 m2 flats in Toolo, or in single flats of any size in Toolo, for that matter. For what you propose, I think 1000-1100 €/month would be a realistic rent, but most students will pay substantially less, either by sharing or living elsewhere.

Well, in Viikki they didn't give PhD students discounts, last time I checked was a year ago. Also didn't get one when I was in the Uni Helsinki student cantina in the inner city.

- At first I was getting something like 2200e/month gross. I'd get around 1800e net, the taxation is not very high yet in these stages.
- At first I was living with 2 flatmates in a 84 square meter flat in Pikku Huopalahti. Rent was 1450, a bit under 500e/ per person.
- Now I live in a 46 square meter paying 900e in the north border of Töölö. I consider myself lucky but I think you can find good offers every now and then.
- Spending 100 per week is possible but needs good programming (i.e. not getting in the first supermarket you find and buy whatever you might need some day). You need to know what to buy from where etc.
- I don't live a big life but I don't miss anything and I even put some money aside even though I drink quite much. Alcohol is expensive!

For flat-seeking I always like Oikotie since you can search on the map. I did a search for you:
The map is centered around Töölö with min-max rent 600-900 and min-max square meters 30-50. This will filter some random ads (communes and such garbage). You can use the link.

P.S. As always the thread ended up to a fight. There many people who know everything here! Be careful!

As I understood it, the PhD salary in Helsinki gradually increases over time, but is also coupled to what is called "personal performance". Could you give me an idea of what this means in reality? How often does the salary level change and can it go up and down significantly within short periods of time? It is a wage system I'm not familiar with.
Was it difficult to get the flat in Töölö? A lot of competition? It seems like a very good deal for the size and location.

I don't remember exactly but I don't think I got many increases (1-2 maybe) and they don't seem to be related with the performance either. Now it is around 2250e/ month (net) which I reckon very high for a PhD student. I think I got an increase after the first 3 years (~100-150e) and then when it was extended further I got another increase around ~300e. I don't know how the system works either.

About the flat:

I can't say it was hard to get the flat but I did something that the majority of people wouldn't do:

1. I went for a flat that had no photos
2. I tried to call the guy (apparently the owner, not a real estate agent) and at first he would try. I insisted though
3. When I saw the flat he insisted to answer within the next couple of days if I get it or not.

Based on what I have heard there are two types of flats / landlords:

1. These who don't want to bother about the flat at all and they are not in urgent need of money (usually older people). These don't care to put photos, to answer calls or to compete in the rents
2. The ones who are on the run, either through real estate agents or alone and try to get the most out of the flat

So give it a try by asking in random ads and asking random people if they know anything. Good luck with that!

Duality wrote:Thanks again to everybody sharing their experiences!

tanilas wrote:
Hello and welcome!

Personal experience:

I am a PhD student.

- At first I was getting something like 2200e/month gross. I'd get around 1800e net, the taxation is not very high yet in these stages.
- At first I was living with 2 flatmates in a 84 square meter flat in Pikku Huopalahti. Rent was 1450, a bit under 500e/ per person.
- Now I live in a 46 square meter paying 900e in the north border of Töölö. I consider myself lucky but I think you can find good offers every now and then.
- Spending 100 per week is possible but needs good programming (i.e. not getting in the first supermarket you find and buy whatever you might need some day). You need to know what to buy from where etc.
- I don't live a big life but I don't miss anything and I even put some money aside even though I drink quite much. Alcohol is expensive!

For flat-seeking I always like Oikotie since you can search on the map. I did a search for you:
The map is centered around Töölö with min-max rent 600-900 and min-max square meters 30-50. This will filter some random ads (communes and such garbage). You can use the link.

P.S. As always the thread ended up to a fight. There many people who know everything here! Be careful!

As I understood it, the PhD salary in Helsinki gradually increases over time, but is also coupled to what is called "personal performance". Could you give me an idea of what this means in reality? How often does the salary level change and can it go up and down significantly within short periods of time? It is a wage system I'm not familiar with.
Was it difficult to get the flat in Töölö? A lot of competition? It seems like a very good deal for the size and location.